According to an account published by Axios yesterday, White House officials were infuriated by Israel’s strike in Doha, because by the time they found out about it, it was too late to respond. On Tuesday morning, Sept. 9, the U.S. military spotted Israeli jets flying east, toward the Persian Gulf. Three U.S. officials told Axios that the U.S. sought clarification, but by the time Israel provided it, missiles were already in the air. The news stunned the White House, and infuriated some of President Trump’s top advisers, because it came as the U.S. was waiting for Hamas to respond to President Trump’s new proposal for peace in Gaza. In fact, the Hamas officials were meeting to discuss that proposal, and the White House was expecting to receive Hamas’ response by the end of the week.
The Axios report includes the following time line:
On Sept. 8, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s top adviser Ron Dermer met in Miami with White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. A source with direct knowledge said that although Dermer was in the know, he didn’t say anything about the plans to strike Qatar.
On Sept. 9, Trump called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, expressed concern about the attack, and stressed the need to move toward peace in the region, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said. She added that Netanyahu responded that he wants peace and that he thinks this attack could help achieve it! Trump also called the emir and prime minister of Qatar, and vowed to ensure such a strike on Qatari soil will not happen again in the future, Leavitt said.
U.S. officials were particularly upset that they were notified so late that they had no opportunity to weigh in on Israel’s plans, Axios claims. Trump wrote on Truth Social: “This was a decision made by Prime Minister Netanyahu, it was not a decision made by me.” He added that he directed Rubio to finalize a U.S.-Qatar defense agreement.
An unnamed U.S. official told ABC News that Israel told the U.S. military it planned to strike Hamas in advance, but didn’t provide a location or other specifics before launching its attack. The vague notification of a pending strike left the military to discern on its own that subsequent explosions in Qatar were the result of the Israeli action, ABC said. The official declined to say when, exactly, the U.S. received the warning from Israel, noting only “it wasn’t sufficient enough to adequately warn regional partners.”
Qatar, meanwhile, denied a claim by the White House that the U.S. had passed on a warning of Israel’s impending attack on Doha. “The claims being circulated that the State of Qatar was informed in advance of the attack are baseless,” said Majid Al Ansari, advisor to the Prime Minister and official spokesperson for Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reported The National. “The call received from one of the American officials came as the sounds of explosions from the Israeli attack were already being heard in Doha.”
